Adjusting means for railway brakes



"(kt-i 27 1925- C. O. ANDERSON ADJUSTING MEANS FOR RAILWAY {BRAKES FiledDec. 12, 1924 C OANpz'Rswv.

a? W. wafi I attorney Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

CHAR-LES o. NDERSON, or OMAHA, NEBnAskA.

ADJUSTING MEKNS- ZEOR -RAILWAY BRAKES Application fi'1ed;December 12,1924. .seriarno; 755,493.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known ;that- I, CHARLns O. ANDER- SON, a citizen ofth-e UnitedStates, residing at Qnialia,,,in the county of Douglas and State'oifNebraska, have inventeid certain newand useful Improvements inAdjustin-g Means for RailwayBrakes, ofwhichthe following is aspecification. Lily invention relates to railway brakes of the class in:whichadjustmentsgto-compensate for wear of Ethebrake shoes aremade byariations inthe connected {relations of a dead-lever and a .fiulcrum-in'ember or guide forsaidlever. It isythevobjecti-of my invention toprovide, in brake mechanism of c this class, a, simpleandeffectiveineansyfor head-of the dead-lever, Fig. 3 is a :sideyiew ofthedead lever and guide asadj ustedfor,

new brake shoes, and on new equiprnent in which {sagging of the brakebeain ;-relatii' e to the bolster ,has not occurred, and Fig l is {aside. View of, the dead-lever and guide as adjusted for, wornbrake-shoes.

Referring to Fig. '1,-there are represented porti n f. o fl fyskerriggijnge applied to trucks of freight-cars, theg prim cipal membersindicatedin the figure heing the wheels lO,; the. sideframe 11, aportion of the holster-1 12, the brake-shoes 13, brakebeains l4 and 15,brake-hangers16,1the" brake-rod 1'7 ,bytension of which; the brakes areapplied, the live=lever 1,8, the-deaddeVeron guide 19, and i the,bOttOm11fU(l '20 which (connects; the, lower ends voftl'leiiliye-le'ver rand dead-lever. The dead-leVer-guide l9 isi p iy-votally connected withia'lug; 21 on the side of thebolsterilQ, said guideis formed from a {flat bar which is doubledtoprovide parallel "sidesspaced apart sufficiently toreceive the upper end f of the ,dead lever;between thenn'andin saidlparallel sides-ofthe guide are a series ofholes22 fonthe fulcrumpin .23 which piyotally eonnectsthegend of thedead-lever with the guide. All-of the foregoing -;pa'1S are of ordinaryconstruction and will be-nndersto'od to operate: in the usual mfanner.In the ordinary construction,'hewever, the dead-leveris a simple barhaving three transverse holes or openings therein, namely, one at thelower end. for receiving the pin by-whi-chtheslever is connected withthe bottom-rod, one at the lower inter-mediate portion forreceiving the1 pin by which: the lever is pivoted upon the break-bean1 15,,an'd oneat-thehp'per end for; receiving the; fulcrum-pin 23 tj'o connect thelever with theguide 19.

In -1ny improved ,fconstruction the lower portionrof the dead-lever Qisofthe usual form ,and; proportions, havingtherein the hele2-5 for thebettom-rqd connecting-pin 26, and the hole27 for, the brake beanrpiwot-pin 28-. ,At the upper endofthe'lever 24, head 29 is formedintegrallytherewith,

and in said ;he'ad are a plurality of fulcrumpin holes 30. ,Said;holes-30, aresarranged equidistantly from the hole ,27 for the brakebcflsm 'piyot-pih'fiB ,Or with; their scent-ere upon an arclstrucki aboutthe center ofthe hole -27. One ofth'e holes'3 0 isgcentered upon a lineextending longitudinally of-the lever through thece nters of-the holesand; 2 7,- thus vcerr-espondinginpositioh with the hole for thefulcriu1n pin23 i-n theofdinary form of dead-lever, but eachof the holes30 is; adapted-to receive said fulcrumpin ;23, for establishingladjnsted,reliitions of the-lever and guide; Upon theusi'deiof theileyjery'nea-ronegeldge and adjacent to the upper end or,--,h(-:ad, 29, is a lug 31;which is preferably integral :with thelex en-as shown.

lnbrakerigging of the class under con sidera-tion,theapplicatigin otthebrakes by tension uponthejbrakeerod 17;tends to more the upperfulcrurned-endvof the dead-lever toward the bolster, so that the guide19 is under compression between theiulcrum-pin 23 and the pivot-pin 32which connects the guide with the :lug l2 on;the;- bolster. It isdesirable that the guide extend hpproxil late- 1y horizontal, or, ifitis inclined from a horizontal position, that the; free end opposite thepivot-pin 32 be at ale-rel above,the ,pivoted end, in-orderthat thepflressure of the dead-,leyeiyupon theguide rnay be exerted almostdirectly toward: the lug 1 2, and thus have 5 .littleif, any tendency to,swing the guideaboutits. pivoted end; and in new equipmentithevarious-parts pf the brakefit) iii

rigging are so proportioned and arranged that the described relation ofthe parts will exist. It is found in practice, however, that in truckswhich have been in use for a time the position of the brake-beamsrelative to the bolster is changed, and that there is a sagging ordropping down of the brakebeams, so that the same and the dead-lever arelowered relatively to the bolster. The or drop of the brake-beams is dueto wear of the brakehangers 1G, and to various other causes which it isunnecessary to here enumerate. In Fig. 3 there is shown in full linesthe normal relation of the dead lever, dead-lever-guide, and bolster,and in the same figure there is indicated by dotted lines the relativeposition of the dead-lever in old or worn equipment, wherein the sag ordrop of the brake-beams has occurred. hen new brake-shoes are applied,the neccssary slack or clearance between the brakeshoes and wheels isobtained by adjusting the dead-lever fulcrum to a point near the pivotedend of the guide, or usually so that the fulcrum-pin 23 passes throughthe first hole 22 adjacent to the guide-pivot-pin-32. The result of suchadjustment, in old or worn equipment wherein sag or drop of thebrake-beam has occurred, is to place the guide 19 in a downwardlyinclined position such as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l, and insuch position the pressure of the dead-lever during application of thebrakes is exerted laterally instead of longitudinally of the guide, toan extent tending to increase the angular displacement of the guide,thus placing abnormal stresses upon the parts, causing distortion andbending thereof, and sometimes producing breakage of parts and completefailure of the braking function.

lVith my improved construction the above described undesirable effects,resulting from sag or drop of the brake-beams relative to the bolster,may be entirely avoided. Referring to Fig. 1 will be seen that by reasonof the inclined position of the deadlever which is normally assumed whenadjustment is made for applying new brakeshoes, the laterally extendinghead 29 on said lever has an upward inclination, whereby one of theholes 30 in said head 29 will be in register with a corresponding hole22 in the guide when the latter is raised to the desired normal orapproximately horizontal position; and that by insertion of thefulcrum-pin 23 in said registering holes such position of the guide maybe maintained. It will be seen further that the provision of the lug 31on the side of the dead-lever will prevent accidental or carelessconnection of the deadlever and guide in a manner such that the guidehas a downwardly inclined position, as in such a position the guide andsaid lug would interfere, it being obvious from Fig. 1 that the guidewould engage the upper edge of the lug before reaching the downwardlyinclined position indicated by the dotted lines in said figure.

As all of the holes 30 in the head 29 are at the same distance from thehole 27 for the brake-beam pivot-pin 28, any of said holes v may beutilized for the fulcrum-pin 23, according to the amount of or drop ofthe brake-beam, without changing the ratio of the brake-levers oraffecting the operation of the brakes in any undesirable way.Adjustments of the dead-lever to compensate for excessive slack orclearance between the brake-shoes and the wheels, may be made in theusual manner, by changing the fulcrum-pin 23 to engagement with thesuccessive holes 22 toward the outer or free end of the guide, until atthe maximum wear of the brake-shoes the dead-lever and guide will beconnected as represented in Fig. i. In order to accommodate theincreased width of the dead-lever resulting from the formation of thehead 29 thereon, the length of the guide may be made greater than usual,or for the extreme adjustments the lever may be reversed in position sothat said head 29 extends toward instead of away from the bolster.

It will be noticed that as the dead-lever is adjusted toward the outerend of the guide it will assume a'more nearly Vertical position, so thatthe use of' the additional holes 80 in the head 29 will be lesseffective in raising the guide from a downwardly inclined position, butthe decreasing effectiveness in this respect is offset by the lifting ofthe head 29 due to the upwardswing of the lever, and also to the factthat a slight downward displacement at the outer end of the guide willcause only a slight angulardisplacement instead of the large andobjectionable angular displacement which would occur were the leverconnected with the guide near the inner end of the latter.

Now, having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a railway-brake mechanism, the combination with a dead-lever-guidehaving a series of longitudinally spaced fulcruinpin holes, and aframe-member to which one end of said guide is pivotally connected; of adead-lever having a head at the end thereof adjoining said guide, saidhead having therein, a plurality of fulcrum-pin holes spaced laterallyot the lever-body and equidistantly from the brake-bea1n-pivot of thelever, said holes being adapted to register severally with some of theholes in the guide to receive a fulcrum-pin for connecting saidlever'and guide when the latter is in adjusted angular relations to theframe-member on which it is pivoted.

2. In a railway-brake mechanism, the combination with a truck-bolster, adead-leverguide pivoted at one end to said bolster and having a seriesof fulcrum-pin holes spaced longitudinally thereof, a. suspendedbrakebeain subject to variation in its vertical relation to saidbolster, a dead-lever pivoted on said brake-beam and arranged to extendat an incline when one end thereof is adjacent to the pivoted end ofsaid guide, and a fulcrum-pin for connecting said dead-lever and guide;of a head on said end of the lever adjoining the guide, said head havinga plurality of fulcrum-pin holes spaced apart laterally of the lever andadapted to register severally with holes in the guide for receiving thefulcrum-pin to connect the lever and guide, whereby the guide may be'maintained in adjusted relation to the bolster When the brake-beamvaries in vertical relation to thebolster. I

3. A structure as set forth in claim 1, including a member on thedead-lever engageable With the guide to prevent connection of the levertherewith When the guide is in abnormal angular relation to the bolster.

CHAS. O. ANDERSON.

